IT industry urged to rethink concept of 'green'

Making IT and technology more green is about more than just
switching your monitor off at night - it is also about all the
environmental, social and ethical issues surrounding production of the
equipment.



That was the message from Miriam Kennet, director of the Green
Economics Institute, as she addressed the Green IT Expo, in London, on
Wednesday.



"Being 'green' is about providing social and environmental justice
at the same time" she said. "It is up to the user and the buyer to make
sure that what they are doing is not causing harm."



Mobile phones are one example of a widely-used piece of technology
which is linked to the exploitation and suffering of people in
developing countries, she told delegates.



Mobiles use coltan, an ore produced from the mineral tantalum, which is mainly found in the Democratic Republic of Congo.



According to the United Nations, smuggling and exportation of
coltan has helped fuel the war in the Congo, a crisis that has resulted
in millions of deaths since 1998.



The mineral is often mined by prisoners in exchange for early release or by child labour, Ms Kennet said.



"We are all complicit in this - everyone who has a mobile phone,"
she said. "If we want to live in this high-tech world we have to think
about these supply chains.



"It's up to us in the high-tech world to see if we can engineer our supply chains to make them more green."



But this does not mean that companies and individuals should ignore
the more obvious ways to help the environment, by reducing their energy
use and CO2 emissions, Ms Kennet added.



"It's going to be one of the big stories, I think, as IT develops," she said.



A report produced last year by UK charity Global Action Plan
revealed that the ICT sector has a carbon footprint similar to that of
the aviation industry